I stifled a yawn as I slung my bag around my shoulder and trudged to the front door. It was only 6:50 in the morning, yet if I wanted to avoid Kibum dressing me up as a nun before I went to work, I had to make my sacrifices and beat him out. I looked down and examined my outfit once more. My dress shirt was buttoned all the way up, my skirt wasn’t too short or tight, and my heels looked formal enough. There was nothing for Kibum to yak at me for after work, but God knows what kind of things he comes up with in his mind to peck at when it comes to me.

Right before I left the door, I heard footsteps tread down the stairs behind me. I held my breath, thinking it was him ready to snatch me back in. But instead, a soft voice whispered, “Kina? What are you doing here up at this hour?”

I turned around and laid eyes on my weary-looking mother, still with her pajamas on and bed-head everywhere. I exhaled in relief before replying, “I’m going to work.”

“Don’t you start at 8?”

“I know, but I didn’t want to bump into Kibum.”

“Well, why not?”

Because he might lose his pity and lock me in a cage before I can get to work, I wanted to grumble. But I had yet to tell my mother about the “danger” at my job, so I just shrugged and decided to change the subject instead. “When is dad coming back from America?”

“Sweetie, you know he’s busy with work. The stock market there isn’t doing too great,” she gave me a half-hearted smile. Still, I sighed, disappointed. My dad worked in the finance field under a company in San Francisco and could only visit Korea a few times a year, leaving my mother to scrap the most money she could out of her job as a daycare teacher.

“Yeah, I know. Well, if he calls, say hi to him for me. I gotta go,” I muttered.

“Alright then. Have a good day! Make some new friends, or maybe get a boyfriend,” she winked at me.

“You wish!” I rolled my eyes but smiled as I shut the door.

“Girrrl! What are you doing here so early? Just can’t wait to meet those boys, can’t you?” Bom chortled after letting me in her room.

“Haha, right. I’m so excited to get to know those guys,” I replied, my tone dripping sarcasm. “Anyway, at least you’ll be helping me so it won’t be all that bad.”

“Helping you? Of course not! You’re flying solo on this assignment, darling.”

“WHAT?! Why?” I shrieked.

“Hush! Seunghyun is next door, and he hates super loud noises,” Bom put a finger to my lips.

“Well, there are gonna be plenty of super loud noises once you leave me alone to deal with 6 crazy dudes!” I hissed.

“Hehehe, loud noises?” Bom wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“BOM! Not like that!” I groaned, slapping down on her arm.

“OW! What the heck, girly?!” she squawked as she pouted and rubbed the pinkish blotch I left on her arm. But before I could apologize, three rapid knocks on the doorframe diverted both of our attention. Standing outside Bom’s room were the two men from yesterday, and uneasily lurking behind them were the yellow-headed boys.

“Hello, Ms. Park and Ms. Kim,” Professor Yong beamed, with stacks of envelopes in his hands.

Bom and I quickly stood up and bowed. “Hello, Professor Yong and Mr. Shin.” We recited.

“Well, I hope that yesterday after work you’ve enjoyed your last peaceful night, because these kids will be giving you nightmares like never before,” Mr. Shin remarked gruffly. Several of the boys behind him snickered.

“Mr. Shin! Please don’t scare Kina; she has yet to meet them!” Professor Yong chuckled.

“So would you prefer one-on-one or group sessions?” Bom asked.

“Depends on what the girl wants, but it’s not going to make things any better,” Mr. Shin grumbled. The others’ eyes turned to me, beckoning my answer.

“Uh...” I began. Since they all knew each other, things could get a bit intimidating for me. But one-on-one was just plain awkward. “Group.”

“Alright then,” Professor Yong nodded. “Oh, and take these.” He strolled towards me, extending the packets in his hands out. I hesitantly grasped the papers in my hands. “These are the files of some personal information about all 6 of the boys, including their school and police records.”

“Police records?!” Bom squeaked with her eyes wide open before she clamped her hand over .

“Yes, you heard right. Police records,” Mr. Shin sneered for emphasis. I gulped nervously, the weight in my hands seemingly heavier than before.

“So this is it, Kim Kina. Your first psychological assignment. I wish you the best of luck and hope that this will be a rewarding experience for you, as well as for the boys. Mr. Shin and I will depart now. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to contact us. Goodbye for now.” And with a final bow from the two men, they strode out of the room. Now it was just me, Bom, and the blonde guys pacing around outside the room ineptly.

“Well, come in,” Bom waved them in. At the same time, all 6 of them began stumbling their way to the door. Yongguk, Himchan, and Daehyun passed through the narrow entrance while Youngjae and Junhong were shoved to the side and Jongup crashed into the window. I peeked at Bom and exchanged funny glances with each other as the fidgety atmosphere was postponed for a bit. After they had all reorganized themselves and stood in front of us, though, it returned.

“SO!” Bom clapped loudly, shattering the silence. “I know you all are SOOOOO excited for this summer. And I know you’re SOOOOO excited to be working with one another! So I’ll just introduce myself before I leave and you all get some alone time. Alright?” The boys nonchalantly shrugged while I was on the verge of vomiting from Bom’s cheerleader-like enthusiasm. “My name is Park Bom! I’m not going to tell you my age but right now I’ll just say that I’m a noona to you all. Okay? Well, that’s all! I’ll just be popping in every now and then because it’s my office and all, but if you need me, I’ll be in room 34 with my friend Sandara Park! She’s letting me share with her so I can leave this room alone with the 7 of you. You can thank me later. Okay, bye then! Have fun! But not too much fun!” After waving to us all and firing off a quick wink at me, she grabbed her bag, slammed the room door shut, and strutted out into the hallway out of my sight.

I was prepared for another awkwardness attack but instead, Yongguk sighed. “Finally,” he groaned, massaging his temples. His voice was deep and husky, matching his gruff exterior. “I was wondering when she’d stop.”

“I know right? She reminds me of a salesperson with all that rambling,” Youngjae added on.

“And she’s ugly, too!” Jongup piped up, causing the other boys to cast him strange looks. “What?!” He shrugged innocently.

“Ugly? Definitely not. She’s a hottie. Did you see that body?” Himchan whistled. “She’s better than any of the girls that you’ve ever gotten.”

“Nuh-uh! Not this one!” Jongup pointed to my direction, causing the attention to divert towards me. He treaded over to me and ruffled my hair as I shifted around awkwardly, the intense stares of the males prickling my skin. “See? She’s so pretty, isn’t she?” They eyed me up and down and I wasn’t sure how it could possibly get any more uncomfortable.

“She’s not even yours, hyung,” Junhong pointed out.

“Yet,” Jongup grinned.

“What is it with you and those types of girls?” the stern-looking Daehyun muttered. Was that supposed to be an insult or something?

“Not my type,” Yongguk finally shrugged, but then smirked. “But we can just make due of what we have.” He reached towards my neck area and traced the outline of my collarbone lightly with his index finger, causing me to shudder. Wasn’t Jongup supposed to be the touchy one though? From the corner of my eye, I spotted Himchan looking on eagerly and the others curiously, wondering where this was going to go. “Ooh, you’re enjoying this I see? I’m sure you’ll ‘thank Bom later,’ now, won’t you?” He whispered darkly into my ear as his finger slowly trailed lower into my shirt.

On the contrary, I was doing anything but enjoying this. My face was most likely paler than a sheet of paper and I was trembling. Trembling. Oh, how could I let my patient scare me as easily as this?

I retracted back to my senses whipped the back of my hand against Yongguk’s face hard. “Ow!” His hands retreated to his cheek, over the spot where I slapped him. “What was that?!”

My fear had vanished as anger began rippling through my veins. But I had to control myself. This was what I was going to have to deal with every day, and I couldn’t let my temper get the better of me. I closed my eyes and forced a deep breath in through my nostrils before slowly exhaling through my mouth, repeating the process to calm myself down.

“Um, are you okay?” A soft, timid voice asked after the third time. My eyelids fluttered open and I looked up to see Junhong, peering down at me with concern in his gaze. He looked rather young and innocent now that I thought about it. I tilted my head curiously, wondering how a person like him could get caught up in all the dirtiness he was in.

“Er, hello?” Junhong waved his hands in front of my eyes. I snapped out of my daze and blushed.

“Oh, I’m fine,” I nodded and gave him a weak smile before clearing my throat and stepping back, making eye contact with all the boys (except for Yongguk).  “Well, I didn’t get to formally introduce myself to you all yet,” I started, scratching my head. I’m Kim Kina. I was born in 1994, which is in the middle of all of your ages I’m guessing?”

“WHAT?! YOU’RE MY NOONA?!” Jongup gasped.

“You were born in 1995 and she in 1994, so yes she is,” Youngjae rolled his eyes. The latter’s eyes widened as he flung his arms around me into a tight embrace. “YES! I LOVE NOONAS!”

“Don’t waste your time,” Daehyun snatched the back of Jongup’s shirt and pulled him off me. I narrowed my eyes at him. This kid had guts.

“Anyway,” I continued, not leaving my eyes off of Daehyun. “You all have problems. Interesting problems. They’re like habits or addictions of some sort.” I stifled a laugh before focusing on the rest of them. “But this summer, even though I am not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do, I’m going to fix them. It doesn’t matter if we get along or not, but I’m going to make sure that Professor Yong and Mr. Shin will leave these doors satisfied and that I will get my scholarship to college, okay? So let’s do our best not to make things difficult for one another. That shouldn’t be hard, right?” I folded my arms across my chest, awaiting their answer. None of them responded as their eyes roamed around the room blankly, indicating that no attention was paid to my words. “Do you guys want me to repeat what I just said?” I mused as calmly as possible, resisting the urge to rip out every strand of my hair on my head.

“Well, you can ask the others what they think. But for me, nah,” Yongguk yawned as he stretched out his arms. I turned to the other five. Himchan was checking out Bom’s pictures pasted on the walls. Leaning against the bookshelf, Daehyun had snoozed off. Youngjae, who was nestled comfortably in Bom’s rolling chair, had pulled out his copy of The Female Reproductive System and was already engrossed in it. My blood boiled with disgust and vexation at the mindless nature of the four. Appreciating my efforts was the least they could do, no?

“Whatever,” Himchan chuckled, before plopping himself into Youngjae’s lap. The latter, disrupted from his book, pushed him off onto the ground before returning back to his novel. Himchan responded by snatching the copy out of Youngjae’s hands and tossing it into the trash can.

“Yah!” The bookworm cried out as he scurried over to the can to retrieve his prized possession. He stuck his hand in the bin and pulled out his book, only to have snack wrappers, dried gum, and other sorts of junk pile out as well.

“HAHA!” Himchan threw back his head and cackled. In irritation, Youngjae tossed the litter at him. Shrieking, Himchan ran behind Yongguk and used him as his shield, but that didn’t stop the attacker from continuously pelting the trash at him.

“YAH!” Daehyun growled as several orange peels hit him. He flung them to Junhong, who whined and casted it back. And before I knew it, a whole-out waste war had broken out in Bom’s previously tidy room. I curled my fists tightly together, attempting to hold on to my sanity.

“Noona?” Jongup’s voice broke my musing. With my shards of hope remaining, I turned to him. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” He gave me a greasy smile and slid his arm around my waist.

I lost it.

“DID IT HURT WHEN YOU CRAWLED OUT FROM HELL?!” I roared. Startled, Jongup released me and stepped back. The others halted their fight and were sending me alarmed looks.  I clamped a hand over my mouth, just as shocked at my sudden outrage. I had just lost my temper in front of my patients. And it had only been a few minutes.

“Fierce,” Yongguk chuckled.

“Jongup...” I uttered, my voice wavering slightly as I reached out towards him. But the said boy only turned his back to me, his dejected stance provoking guilt within me. I dropped my hands dejectedly and sighed.

This was going to be a long summer.

❖ ❖ ❖

A/N:

Hiyaa! Sorry for not updating in a while. Finals are coming up, and I've been swamped with school. But when summer rolls around, I'll prob have more time. Thanks for reading and for your encouraging comments!